Edinburgh Child Killer Theresa Riggi Found Dead

Theresa Riggi, who killed her three children in an Edinburgh flat in 2010, has been found dead at a high security hospital.

The 49-year-old was jailed for 16 years for killing her children, twins Gianluca and Austin, aged eight, and five-year-old Cecilia.

They were stabbed to death in a flat in August 2010.

After killing the three children, Riggi was badly injured after creating a gas explosion and jumping from the second floor balcony of the property.

She broke her pelvis but might have been killed had a neighbour not attempted to catch her, breaking her fall. When emergency services arrived, Riggi was also found to have stab wounds which were believed to have been self-inflicted.

California-born Riggi, who was initially charged with murder, admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility in March 2011.

On Monday, a Nottinghamshire Police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that we were called to Rampton in the early hours of this morning to the death of a woman.

"It's not being treated as suspicious and we are preparing a file for the coroner."

The children's deaths came amid a bitter custody battle between Riggi and the children's father, Pasquale.

In July 2010, Riggi had gone missing with her three children and they were the subject of a missing persons appeal.

Police eventually traced them to a flat on the west side of Edinburgh on July 21, 2010, but officers took no further action.

On August 3, Theresa Riggi failed to turn up to a custody hearing.

The judge duly instructed that she be traced and a decision taken by social workers as to whether her children should be taken into care.

The next day, August 4, the children were found dead with several stab wounds each.

The couple had moved to the UK because of the children's father's work in the oil industry. He is originally from Colorado.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.